The Doosan Bears of Lee Seung-yeop is showing an absolute inferiority complex with two wins and 11 losses against the Samsung Lions. Phobia, a terrible lion that is being thoroughly beaten, was also bitterly in Pohang as a guard of humiliation.
Doosan, led by head coach Lee Seung-yeop, suffered an away loss of 0-3 at an away game of the 2024 KBO League regular season against Samsung held at Pohang Stadium on Tuesday. In total, Doosan had 13 matches against Samsung, acquiring just two wins, and is thus losing 11 games overall. It is in a dire situation, with the winning rate against Samsung being only 0.182.
Coincidentally, the mixed situations involving Lee Seung-yeop, Doosan’s head coach, against Samsung last year and this year are getting more contrasting. Lee Seung-yeop, who had the nickname of the “Lion King” as an icon of Samsung when he was an active player, debuted as a manager last year at the helm of Doosan. Against Samsung, Doosan showed strong performance with 11 wins and 5 losses, showing superiority in terms of natural enemies.
This year, however, the food chain has turned upside down. So far, the bear is completely under the pressure of the lion. This year, Doosan won only two games and lost 11 games. One of the only two teams that Doosan has recorded below .500 this year is Samsung.
Doosan continues a tight race with six wins and seven losses against the LG Twins, the Jamsil rival, which makes it difficult to say that it is inferior. In fact, Doosan’s 11 losses to Samsung this season have created a situation for the Bears, who are currently fourth, and the Lions, who are second.
The bears in Gyeonggi Province were lethargic on Tuesday. During six innings, Won was blocked by the opposing starting pitcher with just two hits without any outs, and remained scoreless through six innings. On the other hand, Won pitched just 89 pitches, and displayed perfect pitching by allowing two hits, eight strikeouts, and no walks in six innings to secure his 12th win (six losses) and emerge as the lone lead in multiple wins in the KBO league.
Jordan Balazovic, who joined the lineup as an alternative foreign pitcher and pitched well with 2 wins, 2 losses and a 3.33 ERA in 5 games before the game against Samsung on the 20th, also became a losing pitcher with four hits and three outs in 5 innings.
He lost the mood to the opponent team when he gave up the first run. In the bottom of the second inning, Balazovic had a hit to the left-center field by Park Byung-ho and a hit to the right-center field by Diaz, who rushed to the first and second bases with no outs. He then allowed Park to advance to the third base through Kim Heon-gon’s fly ball to the right field, and allowed Lee Jae-hyun to score the first run due to a timely hit to the middle field.
Doosan batters, who had been lethargic due to three outs in the first and second innings, also fought back hard in the top of the third inning. Kim Ki-yeon, the leading hitter in the inning, got on base with a hit to the middle field after a close game of eight pitches, opening the door for offense. As the follow-up hitter Kim Jae-ho struck out and Lee Yoo-chan was also grounded out, two outings went up in an instant. With Jung Soo-bin’s double, Doosan continued its chances with runners on the second and third bases with two outs. However, Jarrod was out after a fly ball to the third base, and Ryu missed the opportunity.
And this was his last chance against Won, and he got on base. Doosan hitters were blocked by Won until the sixth inning, and retired after three consecutive innings. After all, Doosan hardly even created a scene of opportunity.
On the other hand, Samsung’s batters continued to create chances. Doosan’s starting pitcher Balazovic gave up an infield hit to Kim Ji-chan after one out in the fifth inning, and gave up a walk to Koo Ja-wook after a close game of 10 pitches.
It was not just Won Tae-in who was defeated. Doosan continued to create chances against Samsung’s relief pitchers in the second half of the game, but failed to score a point.
Yang Eui-ji grounded out to second base and Yang Suk-hwan struck out against Samsung relief pitcher Choi Ji-kwang, who took the mound in the top of the seventh inning. Kim Jae-hwan led the opportunity with a walk, but Kang Seung-ho struck out swinging.
On the contrary, Doosan’s relief team, which had been holding up well, allowed one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, widening the score to 0-2.
In the top of the eighth inning, after one out against Samsung’s third pitcher Lim Chang-min, Kim Jae-ho walked and Lee Yoo-chan hit a heavy hit, taking the opportunity to tie the game with one out and runners on first and second bases. However, Jung Soo-bin hit a ground ball to Lee Sang-min, who took the mound in relief, and Jared struck out swinging at Kim Dae-woo only three pitches, missing the last chance of the day. 메이저놀이터
Doosan’s relief team added one more run in the bottom of the eighth inning dampened the mood of its last chase. Samsung added one more run in the bottom of the eighth inning with a walk by Park Byung-ho and an RBI double by Diaz.
Eventually, in the top of the ninth inning, Doosan hitters failed to score an additional point by Samsung closer Kim Jae-yoon, and suffered a lonely loss with just three hits and two walks.
The current atmosphere seems as if Doosan is phobic about Samsung. If Doosan fails to shake this off, its remaining three games including two consecutive games against Samsung could not be an easy showdown for Doosan.
Seeking to counterattack, Doosan put forward Choi Won-joon as its starting pitcher at the game on Wednesday. Samsung is Connor Seabold.
